YouTube bans comments on all videos of children • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#201

Post by hackinthebochs » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:44 PM UTC

claudiawerner wrote: post #174

mediocrejoker wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You only think that's a good idea because you don't believe in flat earth. They could equally put a link to flat earth sites under NASA/SpaceX videos. Do you really want to decree that whatever they link is "true" just because you agree with them in this particular instance?

Do you realise how silly this line of argument is? Why exactly should we (or Google for that matter) not recognise that there are differences in some actions? That some things are good, and some things are bad? In what world do you conceive it to be the same to advertise flat earth theories as legitimate unless you are yourself a flat earther? This idea that because nobody has a monopoly on the truth then we can't ma…

Of course, every authority since the beginning of civilization has carried this mantle in justification for censorship of all sorts. Having Google decide what information can and can't be shared on their platform (read: utility) is a dangerous state of affairs. What new social movement, or recognition of a current injustice will be stifled due a status-quo bias that is codified by such top down control over the media? We can't know from where we currently stand, which is what makes such control dangerous.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#202

Post by Mirioron » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

bilbo0s wrote: post #117

jobu wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On any popular video or channel the comments have always been a cesspool of hate and evil. I am glad that YouTube is finally trying to do _something_ about it, but it also seems really shitty that it took pedophiles to instigate an advertiser boycott and get them to act.

Pedophiles are just the proverbial "Straw that broke the camel's back." Advertisers have always been agitating, often behind the scenes, that their ads not show up on certain channels. It's just that now that there are all these code words, out and out brazenness, and what not that undesirable people use to have their conversations on otherwise innocuous channels, the advertisers are really starting to put their coll…

Or maybe advertisers want better ad deals? They're also agitated from behind by traditional media that sees Youtube as a threat. Back during the first adpocalypse it seemed as though media organizations were threatening companies to pull out otherwise they'd be written poorly of.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#203

Post by Wowfunhappy » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #141

cmroanirgo wrote: post #116

It seems to me that yt could've implemented the perfect honey trap for pedos. Make an inappropriate remark on children and (being Google), track you down using a variety of fingerprinting techniques and report you directly to the appropriate authorities of that country. The latter part could probably even be automated. And yet, they've taken this stance: one that puts the onus on the content creators themselves to mo…

They already do this and so does Microsoft. Many companies have shared image finger-prints (hashes of images that can deal with resizing) and special people granted permission by the Dept of Justice to report such images. It's a small number of people, leading to at least one Microsoft employee filing a lawsuit for the PTSD he got having to verify and report illegal images. As far as these YouTube videos, Google does…

> It's others who go through and place them into a creepy context by grouping all of them together in playlists and via comment-chain links.

Wanted to pull this out as (IMO) the most important part of your comment. There's nothing for the police to go after, because nothing illegal was happening here. The videos themselves were 100% benign, and while the comments were creepy and awful, they were also free speech.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#204

Post by zanny » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

cmroanirgo wrote: post #116

It seems to me that yt could've implemented the perfect honey trap for pedos. Make an inappropriate remark on children and (being Google), track you down using a variety of fingerprinting techniques and report you directly to the appropriate authorities of that country. The latter part could probably even be automated. And yet, they've taken this stance: one that puts the onus on the content creators themselves to mo…

There is no financial incentive for Google to do this, so they won't. Googles job is making money for shareholders, not making the world a better place.

It would be nice if governments were both interested in the greater good and tech savvy and interested in their citizens wellbeings enough to legislate this, but thats even more farfetched.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#205

Post by commandlinefan » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

jobu wrote: post #110

jawns wrote: post #9

Chris Ulmer, who runs the popular YouTube channel Special Books for Special Kids, said that comments were removed from his channel despite no evidence of unacceptable comments, and YouTube told him that if he turned comments back on, he risked his channel being deleted. [EDIT: Turns out, this is not actually the case. See child comments.] https://twitter.com/chrisulmer/status/1099366622329036801 "Last night I realize…

On any popular video or channel the comments have always been a cesspool of hate and evil. I am glad that YouTube is finally trying to do _something_ about it, but it also seems really shitty that it took pedophiles to instigate an advertiser boycott and get them to act.

Gab just released a tool that permits anybody (with a browser plugin) to comment on any web page, so this will probably not only hurt legitimate users, it will not do what it's intended to either. Just like every other moral panic in history.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#206

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

40acres wrote: post #122

Does YouTube even need comments? I can't remember any meaningful discussion happening in the comments, it's mostly meme type stuff. Long term I can see this being the final resolution for toxic comments.

As others have mentioned, it depends a lot on the video. Often technical or informative videos will have quite a few worthwhile comments, corrections or more in-depth explanations for instance. Other kinds of videos, especially if they are opinion pieces, not so much.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#207

Post by NikkiA » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #94

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>a fight they never even seriously attempted to engage in // Google+ started with a requirement for real names didn't it, no adopted identities. They stuck with it for quite some time. IIRC it did largely cure YouTube comments. But, it damaged engagement, so ...

Killed a lot of other things too. And plenty of people will post hate speech under their own name. Even in the byline of a national newspaper.

What's even more amazing is that they're willing to do it in the bylines of local newspapers, where there's a non-zero chance of you running into that person in your day-to-day activities.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#208

Post by bduerst » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

post_break wrote: post #52

I'd like them to take a look at predatory selling of merchandise to children next.

That is better handled through legislation - i.e. Sweden's anti-advertising laws for targeting children.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#209

Post by zanny » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #99

Legitimate question, does this apply to any video in which a minor appears for even a very brief period? If you're recording an hour-long video podcast, and a child of one of the hosts runs through the room in the background for one second, does that entire video get comments removed?

It means whatever Google wants it to mean, because they operate Youtube however they want. Almost nothing Google / Youtube / etc do is based on legal mandate or requirement, its all their own arbitrary decisions they think will maximize shareholder revenue / retain advertisers on the platform.

Re: YouTube bans comments on all videos of children

#210

Post by Mirioron » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 9:47 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #160

xfitm3 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be in the minority here but I enjoy the low quality youtube comments. Most people dismiss them as cancer but the reality is a lot of people think in patterns that drive these comments. I would rather be in touch with and exposed to this rather than try to pretend it doesn’t exist. It won’t ever go away, it will just be hidden.

>It won’t ever go away, it will just be hidden. deplatforming is an effective strategy to reduce the spread of malicious content for several reasons, in the case of youtube because it reduces the incentive to monetize and spread harmful content. To say that you'd rather be a exposed to pedophilia in youtube comments than to remove them is a little bit like saying you'd like to stay in contact with the marburg virus.

I agree! Since Hacker News could also potentially be such a way to disseminate bad information we should remove all comments here too.

See the problem? That's basically what you're justifying.